Electric power by William Stanley

Born in Brooklyn, New York, William Stanley attended private schools before enrolling at Yale University. He began to study law at age 21 but less than a semester later left school to look for a job in the emerging field of electricity. After getting his feet wet as an electrician, he worked as an assistant to inventor Hiram Maxim, whose electrical innovations made him a rival of Thomas Edison.

Stanley was inspired by Charles F. Brush's work on batteries which involved study of electromotive force. In 1883, Stanley developed AC power circuit designs in his notebooks but didn't yet have a chance to build prototypes.

Stanley worked for George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, Pa, during the years 1884 and 1885. He

had gained a reputation for his work on incandescent lamps. In 1885, Stanley built the first practical alternating current transformer based on Lucien Gaulard and John Dixon Gibbs' prototype of 1881.

Health problems however implied that he leaves Pittsburgh, he moved to Great Barrington, a place where he had spent a good part of his childhood. In those peaceful surroundings, he was able to develop some ideas he had suggested two years earlier to his employer, George Westinghouse (who helped finance Stanley’s lab) for a new type of transformer.

There he set up a small laboratory and by early spring of 1886 had an alternator installed in an abandoned mill on the edge of the town.

On 20 March 1886 Stanley provided alternating current electrification to offices and stores on Main Street in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

He demonstrated the first practical system for providing electric illumination with the use of alternating current, and transformers to adjust the voltage levels of the distribution system.

In 1890, Stanley ventured out on his own to form the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company. Working with John J. Kelley and Cummings Chesney, he developed an advanced AC transmission system known as the “SKC system.”
Electric power by William Stanley

Electrical power by Nikola Tesla

Tesla's interest in electricity may have begun with his mother, Djuka Mandi, who invented small household appliances in her spare time while her son was growing up. Tesla attended several colleges and then began working for a telephone company in Budapest.

Born in modern-day Croatia in July 1856, Tesla came to the United States in 1884 and took a job in Thomas Edison's lab, but the two men quickly found themselves at odds over direct current (DC) versus alternating current (AC). In the 1890s Tesla invented electric oscillators, meters, improved lights and the high voltage transformer known as the Tesla coil (developed in 1891). Tesla coil is still used in radio technology.

He was also a pioneer in the discovery of radar technology, X-ray technology, remote control and the rotating magnetic field — the basis of most AC machinery.

In 1887, Tesla found funding for his new Tesla Electric Company, and by the end of the year, he had successfully filed several patents for AC-based inventions.

As the inventor of alternating-current technology, Nikola Tesla played a paramount role in the electricity used to power the entire world. He developed polyphase alternating current systems of generators, motors and transformers, eventually holding 40 basic US patents.

Tesla's AC system soon caught the attention of American engineer and businessman George Westinghouse. Westinghouse purchased Tesla's patents, and this new partnership began competing with Thomas Edison.

Tesla lived his last decades in a New York hotel, working on new inventions even as his energy and mental health faded. His obsession with the number three and fastidious washing were dismissed as the eccentricities of genius.
Electrical power by Nikola Tesla

Electric power by Edison

Thomas Edison was a brilliant inventor despite the fact that he had little formal training and lived in New Jersey.

Edison’s first major invention in 1877, was the phonograph. He regarded it as a toy, and designed toys that used the device, including talking dolls and children's pianos. He improved it so that it could record and play music. Phonograph could be found in thousands of American homes, where it basically sat until 1923 when the record was invented.

In 1879, Thomas Edison focused on inventing a practical light bulb, one that would last a long time before burning out. The problem was finding a strong material for the filament, the small wire inside the bulb that conducts electricity. Finally, Edison used ordinary cotton thread that had been soaked in carbon.

Another Edison invention was the Kinetoscope, a box containing a strip of photographs. When one looked into the box while the strip was moved, the objects in the photos appeared to be moving. He later invented the Edison Moving Picture Machine, an early cinema projector.

Edison also designed a direct-current system that was most efficient for densely populated urban centers and for isolated plants providing power to a single building. His system was most efficient and economical within a square mile of the central station.

Thomas Edison established the first investor-owned electric utility in 1882, basing its infrastructure on DC power. Edison’s Pearl Street Power Station started up its generator on September 4, 1882, in New York City. About 85 customers in lower Manhattan received enough power to light 5,000 lamps. In 1883, electricity goes public Edison moved across the east, helping cities to install electricity for the people.
Electric power by Edison